Last weekend saw the first beta weekend for The Secret World. While we've previously had small glimpses of the alternate reality that Funcom has created, this was the first time we could fully immerse ourselves in the mixture of new lore and old legends. 

But would all the stories and legends turn out to be true? Would Funcom be able to create an MMO that felt different to everything we had played before? Would we have an alternative to the high fantasy heroics that have dominated MMOs for so many years? Would we be able to dive into a deep, dark mirror world, or would we be left splashing in a shallow, superficial experience?

Answering these questions will take time, which is why we will report in each week with our continuing adventures. So far, our experience in The Secret World has been limited to the Templar starter area in London and Kingsmouth, the first of three zones in New England. Later we'll update you on our adventure, as we progress through to The Savage Coast and onward to the Blue Mountain.

Playing an MMO is full of choices. For example: do I set the zombie aflame using elemental magic, or do I pulverize it into mush with a huge hammer? From shotguns to slice-and-dice, it all comes down to personal preference.

To illustrate just how versatile the Ability Wheel is, Funcom has put together this great in-depth video, covering everything from the role of ability and skill points, through to creating killer builds. If you’ve been overwhelmed by the choice or baffled by how it works, the video also includes tips on ability synergy.

With another beta weekend coming up, now is the perfect time to plan out how you’re going to spend those ability and skill points!

Another beta weekend for the hotly anticipated The Secret World, this time dealing with Kingsmouth again, but adding even more quests and characters, starting this Friday the 18th. Best yet, if you're not a US player, there's a ton of websites in France and Germany and whatnot that have beta key giveaways to those without the pre-order access. 

While there are hundreds of thousands of players champing at the bit to get into The Secret World's beta testing weekend (that's today!), I'll begin this article by dampening the mood: the press beta began a few days earlier! Everything new you discover will be tarnished by the knowledge that I may have seen it first! Jokes aside, media beta access did begin just a little bit earlier this week, so I've spent the past few days re-introducing myself to The Secret World (TSW) and the wonderfully atmospheric town of Kingsmouth.

Details on the first beta weekend for TSW have just hit the site! All sorts of details have dropped, including what the quest will feature, which faction and location you play (Kingsmouth and London, and the Templars), as well as a GameSpot contest to secure a beta invite if you didn't pre-order.

In an MMO all about secrets, knowing the answers to some of the riddles and puzzles can make you a very useful person to know. When you consider the meta-game that Funcom has created around The Secret World (TSW), getting a chance to speak to those in the know is like finding a hidden cache full of classified information, just waiting to be unlocked.

After our hands-on with The Secret World’s Atlantic Island Park, I had an opportunity to chat with just such a person. Funcom’s Tor Egil Anderson kindly spent some time with me. We discussed the depth of the ability wheel, player created content and the general direction of development. We also talked briefly about The Secret War, Funcom’s web based warm-up to the MMO’s launch on June 19th.

In less than two months, the ranks of Illuminati, Templars and Dragons will be bolstered with a flood of new members, all eager to explore The Secret World. From June 19th this year, we'll be able to explore an incredible mirror world, where all the myths, legends and superstitions are real. For those of us fed up with fantasy and sick of sci-fi, this is the MMO we've been waiting for.

We've been tracking the development of this mysterious new MMO, from our initial hands on with the game, to a closer look at PvP. It's been fascinating to watch the team at Funcom hammer out the Ability Wheel, evolving the initial concept into the most potent form of character customization we've seen. In this latest hands-on, junior communications manager Tor Anderson took us through Atlantic Island Park, an abandoned amusement park fairly dripping the paranormal.

As The Secret World makes the transition from a low-key closed beta to Open Beta on May 11th, Funcom has launched a web-based game where players can fight for world domination on behalf of their chosen Secret Society. Participants can win big prizes for taking part, including in-game items, beta access, their name being used in the game and even being flown to Montreal to meet the development team.

Well this one snuck up on me - a prologue game to set up the story of The Secret World has launched, dubbed The Secret War. All sorts of goodies are open to you if you play, including access to the game, in-game items, and even a trip to visit the developers. The announcement is in the first link, but what you really want is the game, in the second link. Go nuts!

The Secret War was launched as a prologue game to earn you rewards for the upcoming MMO by The Longest Journey devs Funcom. Well you can start earning those rewards; weekly challenges are now available. Keep an eye on the site in coming weeks to find out all the goodies you can earn while you plot what faction you'll be starting with. 

ZAM is also having a twitter contest to give away about a dozen weekend beta keys for May! Just tweet / follow @ZAMOfficial or @Pwyff with what you're most looking forward to in The Secret World (one tweet per account, so two chances to win!), and we'll randomly select a few lucky tweeters throughout the day. Be sure to follow us, or we can't directly message you with your winning code!

This year's PAX East was a special event for the team at The Secret World (TSW), as this was their world first public hands-on demo with the game. As a member of the press, however, I've had the great pleasure to participate in not one but two hands-on previews with TSW, so I was more interested in what big changes had been made since February. If this is your first time ever hearing of The Secret World (get out from under that rock!), be sure to read my first two previews, as some systems (character progression in specific) are a little too deep to explain in every preview. A special thanks to Funcom's Junior Communications Manager, Tor Egil Andersen for putting up with all of my inquiries.